Who actually pays for Premium Economy on a flight?

[MielMiguel]

I'm a seasoned traveler. Both for leisure (usually Economy) and for work (Business). As lots of people have noticed, flight prices this year are bonkers.

One other thing that has changed, is the price of Premium Economy cabins. Whilst previously they'd be say £150-300 more each way for a long haul flight, now they are easily over double the economy ticket.

Who actually would pay £2-3k in Premium Economy to Singapore or Bangkok, when Economy is £1k.

Before people say "I DO", I don't mean those who pay £150-300 more, or get them on sale, or use points to upgrade... I mean people who seriously think paying twice the price of an Economy ticket.

@MielMiguel thanks for asking this question because I assumed the same as you. I’m flying Delta to/from NYC in June and am now wondering if I should upgrade for returning leg of the trip. Does anyone have experience with Delta’s PE when doing international from the US to the UK?

As an aside, from experience if booking BA it’s always worth checking out prices for all classes on a flight. Sometimes economy is just about fully booked and a mass of vacant club seats can mean they end up being cheaper.

Or it can be the reverse - late last year we were on more than a few flights where business/PE was packed to the gills but econ was only 50% full and most passengers had a row to themselves.

We like to split returns into PE/Business, but it really does depend on the airline and what matters to you. KLM just launched a new PE product that looks pretty good, wouldnt mind trying that. BA's long haul PE is fine - we usually use it for the added luggage amount and smaller cabin/more leg room as their Club isn't much to write home about and Id rather save the money. Virgin you can do their Economy Extra which I found to be good value with just enough extra legroom, but without the significant price difference to their PE.

Overall though prices are insane this year and the airlines are going to keep that going to recover the Covid losses as long as possible!

We prefer PE for longhaul flights. But we haven't holidayed for 5 years, so it's not like we're paying out that much often!

It's a travel discussion forum! 🙄

Premium Economy has really gone up as OP said and there are times now that we have decided NOT to spend the money eg BA eco to the West Coast of the USA half of the price of what BA wanted PLUS Avios. Sod that - I can buckle down with my noise cancelling - RECLINE MY SEAT 😂😂😂 - and doze all the way plus watching some movies.

I will also pay (and use points if I have them) for PE or business in long haul. Lots of airlines have upped their game in PE and similarly lots of older airlines have pretty shit business classes that are still a lot better than economy. I'm not tall but I'm fat and it's much more comfortable. Depends on trips and what's available- some routes are more competitive than others- but BA and Virgin now do direct 10-11 hr flights to some holiday destinations that are great but business is prohibitively expensive. So PE is a compromise.I'm going to Mexico and the best option there was a business class via the US that was cheaper than BA PE. Economy flights now can still be quite cheap and so double that for PE is worth it. I

I would love to fly PE!
In Covid year we had flights booked and the business class ones were amazingly only £20 more than economy. I was sooooo excited!
But then Covid hit and we were stuck at home ...